


A Glimpse of the Patchwork Paths

by donutsweeper



Category: Ink (2009)
Genre: Gen, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-20
Updated: 2013-10-20
Packaged: 2017-12-29 22:10:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1010697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/donutsweeper/pseuds/donutsweeper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Perception and reality do not always go hand in hand, especially when the one doing the perceiving is a Pathfinder.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Glimpse of the Patchwork Paths

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HopefulNebula](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HopefulNebula/gifts).



> A Yuletide treat for HopefulNebula in hopes of making their day a little brighter.
> 
> Betaed by the awesome Seekingferret.

_One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four._

Jacob tapped his thumb against his thigh.

_One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four._

The beat of the world flowed around him, through him. Follow the trails, follow the threads.

_One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four._

"Jacob?" 

Liev didn't interrupt the beat. She merged with it, creating her own tendrils and weaving them seamlessly into the existing patterns.

"Hello, Liev. What story are you spinning today?" he asked.

"I think you'll like this one." He could tell she was smiling; her voice was lighter, like pebbles skipping on water on a crystal clear day. "May I?" Her touch was gentle, just two fingertips against the back of his hand and he stretched his fingers out toward her in silent assent. "Come on, I'll show you." Taking his hand, she guided his arm to hers, slipping it into the crook of her elbow and pressing his hand against her forearm. He stilled his thumb, keeping the beat in his head instead.

"You can continue to follow the beat, I don't mind." With her other hand she reached over, stroking his thumb to the beat he'd been tapping out earlier.

_One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four._

They walked in silence for a while, Liev guiding him with gentle touches so he wouldn't trip on anything. Eventually they reached her destination and she pulled out her drum and activated the key she wanted. "Ready?" she asked, and at his nod, she led them through to the other side, the world beyond.

He felt the change immediately as threads of time- what was, what is and what might be - added themselves into the beat. It was at the same time both overwhelming and utterly exhilarating.

They were outside. Someplace warm. Despite his hood Jacob could feel the sun on his face. The breeze smelled of autumn on the horizon, but far enough away for the trees to still be resplendent as their leaves whispered to him. He paused for a moment, listening, absorbing, reacquainting himself to the beat.

_One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four._

He sensed grass flattened by blankets that had been spread out underneath one of the trees. Whispers and giggles floated to him. "Tell me what you see." He could sense only so much, after all.

"We're in a clearing. A young girl has set up a fort with blankets and branches and empty crates." As Liev spoke pathways and tendrils opened up in his mind, the picture coalescing and joining the rhythm. 

"Do I know this girl?"

She laughed, a bell's peal singing over the land. "You do. It's Emma. You saved her."

"If I recall correctly, we both did. With a lot of help." 

She continued to lead them closer until they were only a few feet from where Emma played and Jacob could sense a lot of movement, occasionally interspersed with shouts of "Hee-ya!" and cries of both triumph and mock pain.

Liev leaned over, whispering into his ear, "I believe Princess Moomba and her fairy land is under attack by the evil ninja Fluffy Bunnykins. Sir Wobble Bobble, the striped giraffe, is attempting to aid her, but the princess is rather ruthless in protecting her castle and he's more of a hindrance than a help."

A snort of laughter from outside of time chose that moment to weave itself into the beat. Another storyteller then. "Allel?" It was a guess, but only just, he'd become fairly familiar with her particular sense of sarcasm in the time that had passed and not passed since their adventure.

"Hey, pathfinder." Her smile was as obvious to him as the sun's heat at noon in the middle of summer. Unlike Liev, the change wasn't in her voice, but her tone. The bite was gone, replaced with an oddly endearing, almost mocking tease. 

"Keeping an eye on your charge?"

_One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four._

Allel stepped closer, her shrug dispelling rivulets of air around them. "I'm her Storyteller. What about you? Why are you here?"

"That's my fault," Liev said before Jacob could retort with one of his typical snarky quips. Which was a shame, he felt bereaved of its absence. "I brought him here."

"And why _did_ you bring me here, Liev?"

Sighing, she began, "I wanted to know," but let her sentence trail off like dandelion seeds blown away by a child's determined breath.

"You want to know if I can sense her path; if I can hear where she fits within the beat of the world," he offered. His tone was neither unkind nor needling in nature, just a matter of fact presentation to her, since he was sure he was right.

"Yes." Her answer was firm, unashamed.

He addressed Allel, "And I suppose you want to know, too?"

"Of course." Not a moment's hesitation, not that he'd expected there to be.

So he stopped, tilted his head, and listened.

_One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four._

"Help me, Princess Moomba! Help me!"

_One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two._

There. 

The music burst forth. Emma's path. Her father's. Her grandparents'. Merging and intermingling. Friends that move to strangers, strangers to lovers. Hearts bursting with love. Hearts broken to pieces. 

"She's a strong one," he murmured.

_One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four._

"I'll save you, Sir Wobble Bobble! Roar!!!!!"

_One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four._

"Headstrong. Determined."

He sensed so many different paths for her. Which would she follow? A step here led her to be a teacher, molding minds of the future. Slight deviations changed the focus, high school versus college, English versus folklore. Elementary art teacher was a possibility, as was drama and music but not dance. Never dance. Interesting. 

A step there led her into acting and to the path of the Hollywood starlet. That course, with slight alterations and missteps also meandered through its variations: roles on Broadway, community theater, an Emmy. There might be a frantic middle-of-the-night ambulance ride after an overdose or a lifetime achievement award followed by a star on the Walk of Fame.

_One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four._

The single minded career focus, where she became the youngest manager west of the Mississippi, was an unlikely path, but technically possible. As was the chance she opened a successful cafe in Bucharest, although he sincerely doubted the likelihood of that life ever coming to fruition, too many unusual and bizarre twists and turns needed for her to wind up there.

Sometimes she married, sometimes not. There were children and grandchildren down many of the paths, but not all. 

_One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four._

The beat of the world swelled, drawing him into it. So many steps, so many choices. So many different ways the links in the chain of Emma's life might come together.

"I don't think there's much need for me here," he said after a moment. "A good dream now and again and she'll find the right paths, all on her own." He stressed the word _dream_ , knowing both Allel and Liev would understand what he wasn't saying, what he wasn't supposed to be suggesting.

"I don't think there's much chance of an Incubus getting to her, is there?" Technically Liev's question was addressed to him, but it didn't take a Pathfinder to know its true target.

"No chance at all," Allel spit out, fiery and firm.

"Well then, if we're done here." He waved in the general direction of Emma having Fluffy Bunnykins beg for his life. "I do have actual business to attend to."

"It looks like the entire ninja army is about to storm the castle. I'll lead you back if you like, but are you sure you don't want to stay and find out what happens next?" 

Before he could answer Liev, Allel plunked herself down on the ground and tugged his arm. "Come on, Pathfinder. Stay. It's going to be a great story, you know it will."

_One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four._

And, almost despite himself, he found himself smiling, losing himself in the beat, and slipping down next to her. "I guess I can stay for a minute or two. But no more."

"Oh, of course not," Liev said as she joined them on the grass. "A few minutes, that's it."

And if it wound up being a little longer than that and he wound up staying until Emma's story ended? Well, neither of the Storytellers called him on it.

The beat continued and the music of the world played on.

_One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four._


End file.
